Benzion Rader

Not long after the Rebbe launched the tefillin campaign, Mr. Bentzion Rader asked the Rebbe, “Why tefillin?”. The answer the Rebbe gave him, was only understood seven years later (1967).

The Rebbe wrote: “Do you think it’s right that a Jew who has put on tefillin for the first time in twenty years should wait six weeks to do it again?”

When Mr. Bentzion Rader came to the Rebbe seeking advice concerning a serious and complex business problem he was facing, he got down-to-earth counsel as well as spiritual advice.

Mr. Bentzion Rader and his wife, Hinda, live in London, England. In 1974, the Rebbe instructed them to publish a chassidic primer for Jewish women.

In 1975, Mr. Bentzion Rader went on a business trip to Detroit, Michigan. While there, he met a non-observant Jew whom he convinced to put on Tefillin. After reporting this episode to the Rebbe, he found himself doing a little soul-searching of his own...

In his reply the Rebbe wrote: “Do you think it is right that a Jew who put on tefillin yesterday for the first time in over twenty years should wait another six weeks for you to buy him a pair of tefillin?”

"When a Jew in Miami," the Rebbe said to me, "sees pictures of Jews at the Western Wall wearing tefillin, he gets an urge to put on tefillin himself."